My Journey as a Double Major 

I grew up on a small family farm in Clinton County, 35 minutes south of West Lafayette. I have always had a passion for agriculture as a whole. However, the biggest portion of my passion lies in supporting the American farmer. I was accepted to Purdue, the only college I applied to, in Agronomy: Crop and Soil Management with a goal of graduating college in a role to support grain farming in America. However, I never knew where that goal was going to take me in a career path. I have always had a passion for academics, graduating as Salutatorian of my high school, that laid the groundwork for me to come to Purdue with most of my pre-requisites already completed. This allowed me to jump straight into my major classes and get a real feel for the Agronomy program and a freshman. While I loved Agronomy, I always felt like being an agronomist wasn’t what I envisioned for myself and my future. While there are other career paths with an Agronomy degree, I just wasn’t fully confident in my ability to find one for myself. However, I didn’t want to leave Agronomy where my main passion was working to its fullest potential. I took advantage of the resources available and enrolled in extra classes in other areas of the College of Agriculture. In this endeavor, I found a passion for business that led me to apply to Agribusiness: Commodity Marketing as my second major during my sophomore year. This opened many doors to roles that are in the grain industry, drawing together my love for Agronomy and Business.

Completed a double major at one of the best agriculture universities in the nation and graduating a semester early is not for the weak of heart or non-self-driven. Through the hard work, extra credit hours, and summer classes, I am approaching the end of my junior year feeling fulfilled in my academics at Purdue. Double majoring is not for everyone, by any means. For those students that, like myself, have a passion for more than just one area of study, Purdue is more than willing to accommodate that and many other opportunities. Purdue and Purdue Agronomy is a place to take advantage of every opportunity to work towards where you envision yourself in the future. Those opportunities may come in the form of clubs, second majors, minors, research position, internships, and more. The college journey doesn’t look the same for everyone, but there is truly a path here for everyone willing to work for it. I took advantage of my resources and found the path for myself to work towards my goal of supporting the American grain farmer.